To have fun 25 years since its worldwide roll-out, ready-to-drink (RTD) model Smirnoff Ice had launched its first international 360° marketing campaign and moved to a canned format.
The marketing campaign, developed in partnership with McCann New York, made its debut in additional than 20 international locations worldwide on 10 June.
Analysis revealed a rising client pushback in opposition to ‘overly polished perfection’, with audiences craving authenticity and relatability, and this shift is alleged to align naturally with the historical past of playful and irreverent campaigns behind Smirnoff Ice, as in current international focus teams, the model was described as a ‘don’t-take-yourselves-too-seriously form of drink’, synonymous with unpretentious enjoyable.
As such, the marketing campaign inventive leans into the long-standing playful tone of voice of Smirnoff Ice, which depicts the model as ‘good, logic-defying and irreverent’, with taglines corresponding to ‘We’re known as Ice however we’re a liquid. We don’t get it both’ and ‘Proudly not served on the most interesting institutions’.
Britt Nolan, chief inventive officer, McCann World group North America, defined: “After we regarded again at 25 years of Smirnoff Ice, one factor was clear: its refreshingly self-aware, playful tone has at all times set it aside. We needed to search out an concept that honoured the essence of the model whereas transferring it ahead. And that’s once we made a mind-blowing discovery: Smirnoff Ice isn’t really ice in any respect; it’s a liquid. This absurd contradiction hiding in plain sight turned the voice of our marketing campaign.”
Stephanie Jacoby, senior vice-president international vodkas, Diageo, added: “Revisiting 25 years of Smirnoff Ice within the Diageo Archive, it was hanging how the product’s witty tone – from traces like ‘I really like you* *Phrases & Situations apply’ and ‘I received you the right current* *I received me the right current’ from over twenty years in the past nonetheless really feel immediately recognisable.
“To create a marketing campaign that resonates globally, we supercharged this identifiable voice with contemporary insights into web tradition exhibiting that 67% of Gen Z favor comedy and memes. The ensuing breakthrough creativity is designed to seize the eye of at this time’s client while staying true and genuine to the model. What we’ve landed on feels daring and contemporary and I’m excited to see how loyal model followers and new recruits alike join with this new chapter for Smirnoff Ice.”
The marketing campaign has launched with a sequence of twenty fifth birthday property tapping into nostalgia, adopted by a broader suite of contemporary content material introducing a brand new model world, indicating an entire new period for the product.
In Brazil, festivals and partnerships have begun ‘supercharging’ the marketing campaign, and a launch occasion was hosted in Eire with entry solely out there by way of a secret doorway masquerading as a merchandising machine.
Markets together with Nice Britain, Canada, Colombia, Northern Europe, South Africa and the US will lead the continued rollout and be dwell by the top of 2025.
New pack design
The marketing campaign launches in tandem with the worldwide roll-out of a brand new pack design, which incorporates the transfer from bottle to a canned format, which is alleged to be ‘vital’ for the comfort class the place a major variety of RTD purchases are impulse buys made in retailer.
This technique is underpinned by ‘vibrant’ out-of-home interactive in-store experiences and a web-based video the place Smirnoff Ice can takes by itself informal, cool voice, asserting: ‘I defy all logic… however your tastebuds will get it’.
The marketing campaign additionally doubles down on Smirnoff’s international strategy to proceed ramping up digital and social content material, working in partnership with London-based company Born Social to repeatedly push the model’s personal platforms ‘to the following stage’ during the last 12-18 months.
New marketing campaign social highlights embody a Snapchat filter and contemporary Instagram content material.
Jacoby mentioned: “I’m thrilled to be shaping the following chapter for Smirnoff Ice and bringing it to the worldwide stage at a second which feels timelier than ever, as customers search for iconic drinks in handy codecs that are good for on-the-go events like festivals and picnics with mates.
“Smirnoff Ice has been a frontrunner within the class since earlier than we have been even saying ‘RTD’, and I can’t wait to shine a light-weight on this iconic participant in our portfolio at international scale.”
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